Indiana: Pedophile Teacher's Assistant Molested 17 Kids as Young as 3

Another horrific pedophile to report today - this time an 18-year-old teacher's assistant in Indiana - who law enforcement say molested a total of 17 innocent children.

As if the story isn't already graphic and disturbing enough, Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said that 18-year-old Michael Begin specifically targeted children in Jeffersonville, Indiana who were as young as three-years-old, with the oldest of the 17 victims being only seven.

In this case, we're talking about three to seven-year-old toddlers, and this sick pedophile sexually assaulted them. Words cannot express the sheer evil of such an atrocious crime against innocent children.

This sick and vile creature was a teaching assistant at Jeffersonville High School, which offered an Early Childhood Education Class for the young children at Jeffersonville Elementary School located at 2710 Hamburg Pike in Jeffersonville.

Begin also sexually assaulted multiple children at the Clark County Family YMCA located at 4810 Hamburg Pike in Jeffersonville.

According to Mull, Begin molested the seventeen children at each of the locations, the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School which has an Early Childhood Education Class through Jeffersonville High School, and also at the YMCA itself.

"These molesting allegations arose from incidents that occurred at the YMCA in Jeffersonville and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Jeffersonville," Mull said.

Michael Begin was investigated in September after one of the children's parents contacted the Jeffersonville Police Detectives to report that their five-year-old daughter had been in a classroom with Begin as part of the Early Childhood Education Class, and had participated in extracurricular activities at the YMCA where Begin was also an instructor.

The child reportedly told her mother that Begin "wouldn't stop putting his hand down her pants while they were on the playground outside."

Apparently Begin had fondled the children's genitals without supervision, which brings into question why the Clark County School System had allowed Begin, a Jeffersonville High School student himself, to be alone with young children without paid faculty supervision, as well as the irresponsible behavior of the YMCA to allow Begin alone with an underage girl.

Later in October, another two parents came forward with similar accusations in which occurred at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, where their first-graders had told them that Begin had also placed his disgusting hands on their genitals in an absolutely evil sexual assault.

This gross negligence and incompetence on behalf of the Clark County School System should at the minimal result in the termination of the Principal and any teachers who were legally privileged to monitor the children, as well similar reprimand as for those at the YMCA.

President and CEO of the YMCA of Louisville Steve Tarber said, "The safety and well-being of children at the Y is ‘our top priority,' and we are fully cooperating with the authorities." He said Begin is no longer employed at the YMCA in Jeffersonville.

Well, Mr. Tarber, if the "safety and well-being" of the children was your "top priority" as you claim, we wouldn't have seventeen children molested, now would we?

A spokesperson for the Greater Clark County Public Schools also confirmed that Begin has not been in their schools since the October incident.

If multiple children the age of 7 and younger have just said that Begin molested them on your watch while on your property, it's probably beneficial that he's not anywhere near your school.

It's an absolute outrage as is, but to make matters worse, Begin was allowed to be freed on a $10,000.00 cash bond in October after the two charges were brought against him.

He was at the time ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Now according to the prosecution, an additional fourteen other children's parents have come forward with identical claims against Begin, with at least one of the incidents being captured on school surveillance footage.

This is an outrage. This is a complete failure on behalf of a school, an employer, and the judicial system that I may have ever witnessed in my life to not only allow these many incidents to occur but to allow the criminal responsible a bail.

Begin's attorney, Jennifer Culotta, said her client maintains his innocence. Miss Culotta, you're disgusting. He's on camera at least once. No child this young would make up such a claim. He even told the police the day after his interrogation he was "sorry for what had happened."

"It's possible there are other victims that we're not aware of yet," Mull said. He also stated several of the children said the molestation occurred more than once.

It brings about the question of just how many of these sexual assaults occurred in a school and a YMCA right under the noses of the adult staff who's employed on a salary? How could they allow this to happen? They clearly weren't supervising at all. This much is obvious.

"That's the way that most of these cases come to light is because somebody said something, and that's how a lot of these perpetrators try to get away with these type of crimes, by counting on the silence of the victims," Detective Hollis said.

The accounts from the children are horrific, and any sane person would demand that positions be terminated because of these failures. The children state the incidents occurred at classroom tables while they were coloring, in the gymnasium, or even while doing homework.

One child recalled that her and Begin were playing a game he taught her that he called "monster," in which he had her lift her shirt and he would bite her "belly button," as she described her navel.

This pedophile is sick, and he deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There's zero room for anything else.

In Indiana, he's now facing anywhere from 48 to 280 years behind bars for the horrific charges.

The prosecution has asked for a judge to recall the bail against Michael Begin, which if he doesn't do is going to cause a literal riot in the town of Jeffersonville.

With the fear there could be many more victims, Jeffersonville Police are asking anyone who's child attended either the Early Childhood Education Class or the YMCA to contact them at 812-283-6633.